True masters of the air, bush pilots, flew in the subarctic north, and to do that they needed unique skills.
Link to another story “Gillam Weather and a Legendary Bush Pilot”
First, bush pilots needed to be true masters of the ground as well as the air. Suffering mechanical problems, needing to ground his plane, a bush pilot had few options. Usually he found a remote lake. And he rarely enjoyed the luxury of communicating with anyone to share his problem or ask for help.
Once he got the plane on the ground—or on the water—he had to repair it by himself with whatever tools happened to be on hand. Bush pilots needed to be true masters of aircraft mechanics. If he couldn’t repair the plane, he had to navigate out of the rugged wilderness on the ground and survive the experience.
A bush pilot’s trials didn’t end with having to be his own mechanic and having to operate on his own in the wilderness.
On the ground gigantic mosquitoes and black flies offered a special north country torment. In winter, of course, they went away. But then he had to deal with the bitter cold. An airplane engine, running, keeps its oil warm and fluid. Shut it down in seriously frigid weather and the engine oil congeals to unusable sludge.
The pilot could quickly drain the oil before it congealed. But then, before he could restart and fly away, he had to somehow warm the oil and return it to the engine.
Creative bush pilots devised alternatives to draining the oil; they used devices like a plumber’s fire pot—a pressurized gasoline stove—to keep the oil liquid in the engine. The fiery explosions caused by this practice could be dramatic.